She kept as quiet as she could, and so did he, limiting his mounting excitement to a restrained growl in her ear. When he came, his whole body tensed, and his huge hands gripped her so tightly it was almost uncomfortable. April wondered whether she would have little bruises from his fingers. If she did, she knew she would enjoy looking at them, remembering where they came from. Now they were both tangled in his sheets, panting and clinging to each other. She felt relaxed for probably the first time in months.
Cal kissed her again, more gently this time, and held her in his arms. And she couldn’t have been happier that she’d missed her window to go home. If this was the kind of lover he was, then she never wanted another.
He stayed in bed with her for the rest of the night, and it felt so good to sleep beside someone. April didn’t tend to have dates who stayed, but Cal wasn’t the sort of guy to shy from sticking around, from being someone’s rock and protector. She realized she felt safer than she ever had sleeping alone in her apartment, and she knew she would probably have her best night’s sleep beside him. The trick after this was going to be keeping him. Because there was no doubt in her mind, at this point, that she wanted to keep him for the rest of her life.
CHAPTER 14
APRIL
The next morning, before Owen woke, Cal and April took a moment to discuss their plans for their new relationship. Neither one of them wanted to make a big deal of it around Owen, and they both agreed to keep it from him for the time being. The boy was far too fond of April, and he would be heartbroken if the relationship didn’t work out. They were still so new to each other. Cal didn’t want to get his son’s hopes up for something that may not pan out, and April agreed. Being the eternal optimist that she was, however, April was pretty sure everything was going to be peachy forever.
She spent the next few days on cloud nine. That happy cocktail of hormones and hope for the future was almost too much. She couldn’t stop smiling at work. It got so bad that Nathan and Crystal started teasing her over it. She didn’t mind at all. She’d never been so happy.
One evening, she received a call from Cal, inviting her to spend some time with him—a real date this time. He had planned to go hunting, and he thought it would be fun to have her along, camping in the wilderness and all.
“You really don’t date much, do you?” April said with a laugh.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“That’s a weird first official date, is all, hunting.” It was sweet all the same, she had to admit. “I’m not much of a hunter,” she said. “It’s never been something I thought I’d enjoy, but I’d love to get out into nature with you for some other reason.”
“Oh.” There was silence on the line as he tried to think of an appropriate wilderness activity.
Then, an idea occurred to April. “Would you like to take me hunting for photos? It’s almost the same thing. We’ll have to stalk animals, but I won’t have to kill any. Would that be an OK alternative?”
“That sounds more than OK,” he said, and she could hear that he was smiling on the other end of the line. “All right. It’s a date.”
April showedup at Cal’s cabin decked out in all her favorite vintage photography gear with a bag of snacks for good measure. Cal invited her in with a big smile. “Owen’s been counting down the minutes until you got here,” he said.
She winked at him as she made her way inside. “Just Owen?”
“Never just Owen,” he said. He walked into his kitchen and picked up a large backpack. “I’ve made lunch for all of us.”
“I brought snacks,” April said with a giggle. “I guess we won’t go hungry.”
Cal touched her shoulder quickly, just enough to leave a patch of warmth on her skin but not long enough to give Owen any ideas. “Nothing wrong with being well prepared. Let’s head out.”
They hiked a few miles into the forest with Cal leading the way. After a while, Owen rode on Cal’s shoulders, reaching up to high-five maple leaves as they went along.
“Do you want me to carry any of that?” April asked, gesturing to the backpack with their lunches in it.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “You’ve got your hands full with our singular weapon.”
“You mean our single-lens reflex weapon?”
Cal laughed. “That’s the one. Why do you use such an old-fashioned camera, by the way?”
“I haven’t really thought about that.” April took the chance to consider it, listening to the sound her shoes made as they crunched along the trail. “I guess there’s a simplicity to it, a ritual. It’s nostalgic for me, even though it’s a bit before my time. It takes time to do and learn. I even use a darkroom to develop the film and prints. It’s sort of meditative, you know? Peaceful, I guess. Have you ever used an SLR camera?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“I have!” Owen interjected proudly.
“Have you?” Cal asked. “When?”
“When we were at the park,” Owen answered. “Nurse April let me use hers to take some pictures. They were really good ones, she said. That’s what she said.”
“That’s because theywerereally good.” April glanced down at the boy, who smiled back up at her. “I’m anxious to develop them.” Then, she winked, hopeful he knew not to reveal their secret portrait. If he did, she’d just have to own up, she supposed, but a surprise would still be way more fun.
